Three Rivers Chair blog

The talk was on the history of sand gravel in Rickmansworth by Chris Hillier. In the Colne Valley there are lakes which are now used for Fishing, Sailing or Nature Reserves. The Ice Age deposited the raw materials. Chris illustrated his talk and the packed house at the Cloisters Hall were very appreciative. Walkers of Rickmansworth who were involved in boat building were also involved in gravel extraction. Where the gravel was dug out, it has now been flooded to make artificial lakes. I worked at Walkers briefly after graduation. Tescos is now on the site.

My visit had been arranged by Geraint Hughes, Corporate and Trust Fundraising Manager who I had met on my visit at the cheque ceremony from the Michael Sobell Bridge Club.

My visit started at 14:30 in the Day Therapies Unit with Marie Nash, Staff Nurse. She explained their work and that their work was all funded by donations. I then had a tour and met other staff and patients. During the visit I was able too see which items the Mayor of Hillingdon, Cllr Catherine Dann had been able to donate.

After 3pm I met Carol Weston, Senior Sister, who spoke to me about the in–patient unit.

All the staff where very passionate about their work. They also have an amazing number of volunteers.

Geraint Hughes said “Thanks for spending time with us and I trust you were inspired by the staff you met”

This was our first visit to Bedmond for a while. The only British pope Nicholas Breakspear was born in Bedmond.

The Church in Bedmond is part of the Parish of Abbots Langley.There were slightly fewer people at this months Coffee morning as it was the School holidays. One chap who was nearly 80, remembered coming to the Church when he was 5. As well as coffee and Tea there were plants for sale and Bric-a-Brac. Yvonne and I were made really welcome. We had many interesting conversations.

Anglican Churches from all over Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire walked on Easter Monday to St. Alban’s Abbey. This annual Pilgrimage has been happening for many years.

I joined St. Oswalds Church Croxley Green for a 7:30 service followed by breakfast. After the photo they left at 8:45.

I did the Pilgrimage with them about 15 years ago when my daughter Hannah wanted to go.

The weather this year was a bright sunny day. I should be joining them to walk it on Easter Monday 2016.

Michael Hart, organiser of the group walking from St. Oswalds said “Very many thanks Chris for finding time in your busy schedule to join us yesterday morning. It was very kind of you and we appreciated what you had to say to us.

It started us off well on what was going to be a great day. The weather could not have been better for the walk itself, and the service was terrific. ”

The event was organised by The Friends of Chorleywood House Estate. It was open for 4 days over the Easter Weekend between 2pm and 5pm.

We went to a drinks reception . We had the opportunity to meet people whose grandparents and parents had worked on the Estate. As well as meeting the other guests we were able to learn more about Lady Ela Sackville Russell.

An amazing amount of research had been completed by Linda and her team.

The first visit was at 9:30 with Geof Muggeridge where Three Rivers have HR and some Finance staff based in Watford. This was followed by a visit to the Depot in Rickmansworth. After that it was Three Rivers House. I had an Easter Egg Competition to judge.

This was followed by lunch at Mount Vernon during my visit to Linda Jackson Macmillan Centre. We discussed a Triathlon which will now be based at Merchant Taylors School. LJMC will be using it as a fund raiser. Then back to Rickmansworth for Mencap and the CAB. We took some photos which will then be used to help promote the Watford 10K which is a fund raiser for Mencap. My final visit of the day was to Rickmansworth Police station.

The amount raised for the Chairman’s Charities was – was a fantastic sum of £406.84 being raised for Cllr Lloyd’s charities.